The lovely Gangarama Temple is well known for its commanding structures, and is finished with a chetiya, bo tree, picture house, Simamalaka, relic chamber containing the relics of the Buddha and Arahat Seevali, exhibition hall, library, pirivena, and private, training and aid corridors. It is enlivened with stone carvings, metal work and numerous different types of Buddhist craftsmanship. It contains endless supply of Buddha statues in the contemplating present, nearby smaller than usual stupas organized like a staircase.
As one enters the sanctuary, one will see a gigantic painting on the divider delineating the 'Atalo Dahama' (the eight changes of life) – gain and misfortune, great notoriety and history of shameful behavior, acclaim and blame, and agony and delight – to give the message that one shouldn't be bothered by these.
The Simamalaka, situated on the waters of the Beira Lake and available by means of a wooden stage, is a piece of the Gangarama. This little sanctuary and island structures had been planned by the prestigious modeler Geoffrey Bawa.
The first Simamalaka, which is said to be more than 100 years of age, had gone into demolish and fell into the lake. The new building was opened on February 10, 1979. It contains a model of the Buddha's impression etched in marble, which had been given to the sanctuary. The wonderful figure on its dividers portray great and terrible deeds and their outcomes, on the correct side, and Sri Lanka's history and occasions in the Buddhist religion, on the left.
Great jade buddha from China
Great jade buddha from China
Authorized under CC BY-NC 2.0 by lori satterthwaite
A library containing a great many books on Buddhist and different subjects, an exhibition hall with uncommon questions, for example, old coins made of gold and different metals, conch shells, ola leaf books and antique cut objects of metal and copper, are a piece of the sanctuary.
The sanctuary was said to have been worked in the nineteenth century by a broker and ship proprietor named Don Bastion, who had assumed a main job in resuscitating Buddhism. The sanctuary's bo tree is a sapling of the Sri Maha Bodhi and is more than 100 years of age.
The engineer of the present day Gangarama was Mahopadhya Dewundara Sri Jinaratane Thera. Until his entry, the sanctuary was just a withdrawal on a boggy arrive on the bank of the lake. The Thera was exceptionally respected among the general population of the region, and with their assistance, brought the sanctuary to what it's today.
He likewise got the sanctuary exempted from the rates that, till at that point, must be paid to the metropolitan board. The old Simamalaka was supplanted amid his residency with the assistance of S.H. Moosajee. Convenience was given to priests who originated from a remote place to take in the Dhamma, and charity and pirikara provided to them.
The Thera was likewise in the propensity for delivering and gathering ola leaf books, and the uncommon books he gathered are currently housed in the sanctuary. He was additionally an authority of collectibles, for example, relics, elephant tusks and curios he procured both here and amid his abroad visits; these are presently shown in the sanctuary.
A printing press was likewise settled with the assistance of Scotsman, J. Holmes Pollock, with printing books to spread the Dhamma among people in general. The Thera was likewise instrumental in growing the sanctuary by procuring land around it.
He was prevailing as the main cleric by Keerthi Sri Sumangala Jinaratane Vacissara Thera, who kept on enhancing the sanctuary. He supplanted the old picture house with another masterful rendition, got arrive with the assistance of well-wishers and fabricated a three-storeyed pirivena lobby and private corridor for Bhikkus, and began the library.
The Simamalaka was modernized and the chetiya and a samadhi statue was manufactured. With the point of delivering educated and highminded priests, he fabricated the Sri Jinaratane Bhikku Training Center in 1954, and the Sri Gnaneswara Pirivena in 1955.
Priests were likewise urged to sit for Pracheena examinations.
Gangarama is a focal point of learning. Vacissara Thera established the framework for the Sri Jinaratane Vocational Training Center and the Sri Jinaratane English Academy, which have shown professional and dialect aptitudes to numerous under-special youth.
He additionally started numerous Buddhist focuses abroad, along these lines engendering the Dhamma in outside grounds. More books were printed at the press, while a dialect research facility was built up to show remote dialects. This incredible priest passed on in 1984.
He was prevailing by his central understudy, Galaboda Gnanissara Thera, who is the present boss occupant of Gangarama. He enhanced the sanctuary premises further with more aesthetic contacts to rouse devotion in the lovers' hearts. A dhamma school was built up for kids, while much was done to enhance the parcel of under-advantaged youth and specialists. The administrations of the professional instructional hub enhanced, and branches were set up in numerous parts of nation.
The sanctuary is home to six elephants, which are Gnanissara Thera's pets. Whenever Raja, the tusker who conveyed the Sacred Tooth Relic at the Kandy Perahera, kicked the bucket, Nawam Raja of Gangarama was sent to the Dalada Maligawa to complete the holy obligation.
The Nawam Perahera, propelled in 1979, has been held continuous from that point forward. This lovely celebration of expressions has more than 1,000 entertainers. It includes artists in customary ensemble delineating the distinctive move conventions, drummers, whip wafers, schoolchildren conveying banners, percussion groups, conch shell blowers, stilt walkers and flute players; more than 100 elephants brought from various parts of the island is the feature of the exhibition.
It was hung on a littler scale a year ago because of the torrent fiasco, and the assets, which would have gone towards arranging the parade, were occupied to give asylum and help to the people in question. The sanctuary was in the cutting edge of philanthropic endeavors in the consequence of the wave.
The Gangarama was instrumental in setting up the Buddhist sanctuary in Staten Island, USA, Buddhist Center in New York, Birmingham Buddhist Vihara in the UK and the Buddhist Center in Tanzania.
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